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 SOCIAL MEDIA & POLITICS 

WITH OTHERKIN 

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Otherkin aren't a political band as such, they don't have an album dedicated to telling you about their political beliefs, but they do have a place in the conversation. 

 

Even musicians with no obvious political alliances are affected by poltics, especially in recent years. The Brexit vote will stop the movement of free people in the EU, making it harder for bands to tour. Not only that, but with a typically Conservative government giving less funding to the arts, smaller artists who may have financial issues, and kids at school wanting to start their musical career may struggle. 

 

Talking about politics' absence from the mainstream political conversation since the 90's, and it now becoming more prominent, the band said "How could it not re-enter the conversation? There have been so many seismic developments in the past couple of years but even still, it's not necessarily being reflected in band's music, more so on their Twitter feeds and in their live shows. Which is fine, there's no obligation on them to talk politics in their music, as long as they're using their platform to advance the conversation in some way then that's a positive."

 

They are of the belief that although a band may not be openly writing about politics in their songs like Billy Bragg, they are likely to Tweet about it, or post on other social media platforms. Artists like Two Door Cinema ClubJME, Lily Allen, and even Brian May didn't write political songs, but they were more than happy to share their views on Twitter, making a positive influence in getting young people to vote. Some even abandoning their pride, like JME, who as an advocate of Jeremy Corbyn, encouranged young peolpe to vote no matter who they vote for.

 

9 times out of 10 however, when a musician says something about politics, they are told to stay in their lane. On this, the band said "I think they're well within their rights to involve themselves in politics because politics involves everyone. I hate when I see people telling musicians to 'stick to their day job' and keep their noses out of it. Why? Political decisions impact them as much any other person so they're entitled to their say, everyone is. Brexit is likely to have a huge ramification on the ability of musicians to tour around Europe so I'd actually be a little surprised if a British musician didn't have an opinion on it! It's a much bigger problem if people decide to keep quiet, that's how resentment festers."

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